The invention relates to a system for fitting a window into an opening, especially a window of a transport vehicle; the window can be rapidly removed, especially in order to allow the evacuation of passengers from a vehicle.
In everyday life, it is often desirable to be able to rapidly make an opening at the place where a window is. This is, for example, the case in premises open to the public when, in the event of a fire, it is desirable to be able to expel toxic fumes rapidly. This is also the case in vehicles for transporting people; in an accident, it may be impractical to get out through the vehicle""s usual exits; it is then essential to be able to rapidly create new openings and it is generally desirable to do so at the places where the windows are. One means very often used for producing such openings consists in the use of thermally toughened glass as the window pane. In this case, all that is required to replace the window with an opening is to be able to strike the window pane with a sharp hammer, which causes the toughened glass to break explosively and completely exposes the window opening. In public transport vehicles, it is common to see, for use by the public in the event of danger, small hammers specially suited to breaking toughened glass.
When the glass is not toughened, whether this is a safety glass, but one which is laminated, or a window pane based on a plastic which is difficult to break, then the above methods can no longer be used and it is necessary to be able to use systems for rapidly removing such .windows. Thus, Patent Application EP-A-0,061,198 proposes a window, in particular a vehicle window, which is equipped with a special frame having, all along an elastomer seal, a cable fitted with a handle, the whole assembly being mounted in such a way that by pulling on the handle the cable is extracted from the elastomer sealing strip, this having the effect of disconnecting the window from its peripheral seal and thus of exposing the opening. Another document, EP-A-0,121,480, uses the same kind of principle, but in a much simpler implementation. Here, the window is joined to the opening in the body of a car by means o an extruded elastomer seal which adheres both to the window and to the sheet metal of the body. At the time the extruded elastomer is being deposited on the window, the polymer on the one hand, which will provide, once it has cured, the material of the elastomer, and a wire on the other hand, which is placed at the edge of the elastomer sealing strip, both these going around the entire periphery of the window, have been coextruded. Once the window has been bonded in the body opening, it may be separated from the sheet metal of the opening by pulling on the cable on the opposite side from where it lies. The elastomer seal is thus gradually torn all around the periphery of the window, thereby allowing the window to be extracted from, the opening. The above techniques, which use one and the same cable to release or to cut the peripheral seal which connects the window to the opening, have the drawback of requiring very long lengths of cables to be extracted. In the case of a large window, such as for example the windscreens of a coach or bus, this entails extremely bulky lengths of wires inside the vehicle. Moreover, it takes large forces to break the elastomer seal, but the cross section of the wire necessarily has to remain small, which complicates the choice of a suitable material for making the wire in question. Furthermore, after the window has been extracted, the peripheral seal cannot be used again, that is to say if it was wished to extract the window simply in order to touch up paintwork or for carrying out any other similarly benign operation, the window could not then be refitted since the techniques are irreversible.
The window of the invention, together with its type of mounting, must be particularly suitable for producing windows intended for transport means and especially for buses and coaches. These vehicles are increasingly designed in such a way that they no longer have a glass rear window. In particular, it is often the case that coaches intended for long journeys are equipped at the rear with a baggage compartment occupying the entire height of the vehicle and excluding the possibility of fitting a window in this region. In the event of an accident, this situation entails a major risk for the passengers when the vehicle is lying on its side. This is because, in that situation, the normal exits through the doorways are either under the vehicle or in a high position where they cannot be reached, and the same applies to the side windows. The passengers, desiring to get out of the vehicle quickly, no longer have the opportunity to break the rear window and, under these conditions, it is therefore desirable for the windscreen to be able to be rapidly removed so as to allow the passengers to leave this vehicle in a dangerous situation.
In the particular case of buses and coaches, the object of the invention is therefore to provide a system for fitting, and above all for removing, the windscreen, allowing the opening to be very rapidly exposed.
The object of the invention, in a general manner, is to provide a system for fitting a window into an opening which in particular allows the evacuation of passengers, but which does not have the drawbacks of the previous systems. According to the invention, this object is achieved by virtue of a system for fitting a window into an opening, especially a window of a transport vehicle, having a profiled frame capable of being pulled out of the opening, especially in order to allow the evacuation of Passengers, in which the frame is rigid, in which the window is bonded to the frame and in which the frame is joined to the opening by discrete mechanical fasteners which are released from at least one of the sides of the window, especially from the inside of the vehicle. The use of discrete mechanical fasteners in the invention makes it possible to limit the forces which are associated with each fastenerxe2x80x94both the forces for releasing the window when it is desired to expose the opening and the forces used to ensure sealing between the window and the opening.
In one advantageous embodiment, the discrete mechanical fasteners comprise a fastening element extending in a direction not perpendicular to that surface of the window which is engaged with the frame, preferably more or less parallel to this surface, this element being able to move in the said direction in order to release the discrete mechanical fastener. This type of fastener may be simply and rapidly unlocked by a single approximately linear movement using a limited tensile/compressive force.
In order to release the discrete mechanical fasteners, the system according to the invention may advantageously comprise at least one controlled means of release from at least one side of the window and acting on each of the discrete mechanical fasteners, successively or simultaneously, preferably simultaneously.
Such a means of release may act on the said fasteners especially by transferring a mechanical force or by transmitting an electrical signal which actuates the release.
In a first variant of the invention, the fitting system comprises a rigid frame, which is independent, with discrete mechanical fasteners comprising pins that are approximately parallel to one another and to the direction in which the window is fitted into the opening. In this case, the pins pass through corresponding holes and it is a matter of indifference whether the pins are provided on the frame and the holes in the opening, or vice versa. The discrete mechanical fasteners in this variant are particularly secure and guarantee that the operation of fitting the window is greatly simplified, since it is a question of presenting the pins in front of the corresponding holes and inserting them before locking them. It is advantageous, in the case of the above system, for the rigid frame to have a triangular cross section in the regions where the curved window has a high peripheral curvature. Moreover, the pins are locked by cotters which pass through a slot made in the pins, the said slot being approximately perpendicular to their axes. These cotters preferably have an increasing thickness, their width being constant and thus allowing them to slide in the slot in the pins without rotating.
In the case of this variant, it is also advantageous for the cotters to be connected by a cord as means of release, this cord optionally having, between the cotters, locking elements which are placed so as to ensure that they are extracted one by one.
In another advantageous embodiment, the means of release may comprise at least one expandable body, for example a balloon or tube which is inflatable by injecting a pressurized gas and the expansion of which exerts a pressure on a device for releasing the discrete fasteners. This means of release is more particularly appropriate to releasing the discrete fasteners simultaneously.
In another variant of this same system having pins and holes, the invention provides discrete mechanical fasteners which include locking elements associated with the pins, the unlocking of which is achieved by means of an explosive. Advantageously, the system then comprises a device for controlling the explosive, which may be actuated from one side of the window and which may trigger the explosions simultaneously or in succession. In all the illustrative examples of this variant, the sealing between the rigid frame and the opening is preferably achieved by means of a foam seal.
In another variant of the invention, the fitting system includes a rigid frame made of an elastomer. The profile of this frame has projections on which the discrete mechanical fasteners bonded to the opening exert a pressure. Preferably, these discrete mechanical fasteners include locking members, the sliding of which gradually presses the frame against the opening. The locking members may advantageously be designed so as to engage with a means of release, as described above.
This technique makes it possible, firstly by the choice of an elastomer with a suitable hardness and secondly by the choice of a corresponding number of discrete mechanical fasteners, to ensure sealing without any other external means. In the latter case, the discrete mechanical fasteners preferably have cogs in between which a pawl fits in order to lock them and which are released by acting on the pawl.